Atomic Heart isn’t out until tomorrow, but some clever fans have found a workaround using Game Pass for PC that allows them to start playing it a full day early. However, their joy over finding a way around the release schedule has been dampened somewhat by a 50GB day-one patch.
The exact release time for Atomic Heart on Game Pass and consoles is midnight local time. This means that at the time of writing, the game is already live in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s this fact that’s being abused by Game Pass subscribers in other countries. By switching your region in Game Pass on PC, you can convince the system that you’re in New Zealand and, therefore, can play Atomic Heart a full day ahead of the rest of the world. We won’t be sharing the method for this, but it’s not hard to find among the community.
Related: Atomic Heart composer Mick Gordon is donating his fee to aid Ukraine
However, players who do successfully download Atomic Heart are also being forced to download its day-one patch. The patch is roughly 50GB, putting quite a dampener on any excitement those who’ve already accessed the game have. We have not been forced to download this update on another platform for the game, so it’s likely that this is the game’s official day-one patch and will be available to you once the game is live in your region. Still, there are those who expected this, have downloaded the patch, and are already playing the game. One upside of this situation is that these players are already sharing the best PC settings to play the title with.
It’s possible that those with Game Pass on Xbox consoles may also be able to trick the system and play the game early. However, all the user reports we’ve seen are only from those using Game Pass on PC. This could change over the course of the day as more fans try their luck.
Atomic Heart is a first-person shooter with RPG mechanics set in an alternate history where the USSR dominated World War II and became one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world. Some believe the game glorifies the Soviet Union, which has caused quite a bit of controversy surrounding its launch. There are also questions that developer Mundfish has failed to answer regarding the use of user data and the funding it received for the game that’s leading to many people actively avoiding or boycotting the title.
